On September 28, a representative of Mitsubishi Corporation sent a letter to the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), in which Mitsubishi confirms the absence of any plans to restart the Mitsubishi SpaceJet regional aircraft program. The text of the FAA and Mitsubishi correspondence is posted on the page of official documents of the US government.
In fact, this means that the direct competitor of the Russian Superjet will not be certified by the FAA due to the corporation's refusal to conduct further flight tests. Mitsubishi has made, as it is now fashionable to say, a decision to hedge risks. The Japanese have spent more than $10 billion on the regional aircraft program.
In October 2020, Mitsubishi stopped further development and testing of the Mitsubishi SpaceJet (formerly Mitsubishi MRJ) aircraft. The letter informs that the program has been frozen for three years, all four built aircraft are stored in the MITAC hangar, and the staff has already changed their place of work.
In fact, this may mean the final death of the project to create a competitor to the Russian regional aircraft from Sukhoi.
Comment from Rostekhovsky telegram
Now read this: https://t.me/AviaCT/13095
The Japanese project to create the main competitor of the Sukhoi SuperJet, the Mitsubishi SpaceJet regional aircraft, has been stopped, and all its personnel have already changed their place of work.
In other words, SpaceJet will never fly... And it cost 10 billion dollars or 718 billion in terms of our rubles.
What is the moral, you ask? Well, firstly, the development of new aircraft is not cheap, not only in Russia, but also all over the world. Secondly, it turns out that not everyone can.
Mastadonts from Mitsubishi froze the project, having lowered billions of money into the jet nozzle of the aircraft engine, while SuperJet safely plows the air spaces of our homeland and is ready to replenish the family with a new version in the foreseeable future.
